BioBlitz Event:

A BioBlitz is a 24-hour event, to record animal and plant species found within Tai Tam. Scientists and trained volunteers will lead the BioBlitz with the assistance of citizen scientists like you! Join wildlife experts in different types of biodiversity survey including:

With most research about Hong Kong bamboo scaffolding dating from the late 1990s, Andy and I decide to pay a visit to the bamboo wholesalers to see what we can find out.

Toby, our long-suffering contractor, tells us we should just put our order in with the scaffolders. How, exactly, are we planning to get the poles, by ourselves, to Tai Tam? We persist. He eventually sends us a photo of the car mechanics opposite. The address on Google Maps points to a spot on a long road through New Territories with nothing on it, next to Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong’s highest mountain.

With comfort knowing that nothing is more than 30 minutes from Central, we set off towards deepest Shek Kong. It is sunny, almost T-shirt weather, not like December at all.

Six lane motorways and high rise buildings give way to a busy country road lined with half built luxury looking “village” houses alongside junk yards, tangled telegraph poles, and road works bollards. No road numbers.

Then around the corner, a corrugated iron yard with stacks and stacks of bamboo poles standing in neat upright bundles. There is a wide green gate with big red calligraphy letters fronted by an artful clump of yellow and green striped bamboo. Must be it.

The yard is around the size of a basketball court. There is an old speedboat in one corner, next to a papaya tree. There is home cured bacon hanging out in the sun. And bamboo poles everywhere. Taller than a house, and varying colours of green and brown.

We find an elderly man and woman in the small office having lunch. They’re both wearing down jackets, the way that Hong Kong people insist on at the merest hint of under 20 degrees C. She comes out, walking with a cane.

I try to explain. Well… we built a bamboo jungle gym. You know, get the kids to experience bamboo. It’s so amazing. It’s all about biodiversity education. Our scaffolders get all their bamboo from you. We have all these questions. She looks skeptical. “Are you here to buy bamboo or what?”

I struggle with the phone and finally find an image of the jungle gym. Wouldn’t it be great to put these up in different schools, at the flower show, on a beach? Then everyone can have a chance to play and get to know bamboo. You see, we do environmental education…

She considers. “You’re in Tai Tam? You tell those Scouts they need to get over here soon. Big order from them, got the poles all straightened out, my customers for a long time…” It turns out the Scouts do a big camp every few years and order a job lot. Mrs Mak (“like McDonald’s”) likes the Scouts. She’s seen kids who joined the camp, now grown up, and coming back for more bamboo for their kids.

Mrs Mak’s bamboo comes from Guangxi in China. They are cut, transported by boat, then stored outdoors to dry, although for how long “it depends on the sun, the rain”. There is no other treatment required for bamboo scaffolding. When the bamboo is brown it is ready.

I recognise the Mao Juk 毛竹 (Phyllostachys pubescens) and Ko Juk 篙竹 (Bambusa pervariabilis). Mao Juk being thicker, with ridged nodes, Ko Juk slender, both around eight metres tall. Only two species of bamboo are used for scaffolding in Hong Kong, although around 60 species of bamboo grow here. There is also fir, for structural support, and thinner bamboo which could be used for fencing, and bamboo baskets, brooms, and ladders.

A buyer comes in and heads straight for the Scout stack. Mrs Mak fends them off, no no, not those! We hear a quote for $13 per pole of the Ko Juk. The poles are tied in bundles of five. He starts loading onto a truck. One truck takes around 60 bundles, or 300 poles.

We ask how much is a Mao Juk. “Well, I would charge your types a different amount… the scaffolders are coming in all the time to buy, you know. $25? Hardly! You are looking at $50-60 each.”

What about the quality, do you have different grades? “That was before, we used to have 甲乙兵 (Chinese for A, B and C). But now, who would want the Grade Bs and Cs, if someone buys all the As?” Turns out the bamboo comes bundled in fives from China already.

And how about the age, doesn’t it have to age for a few years before it’s ready? Mrs Mak says there’s no difference now, it’s cut as soon as it grows high enough, no waiting for 3-4 years anymore. It’s not as solid nowadays.

“Foreigners are so happy when they see the bamboo. A buyer came in from US and bought hundreds. Thought they were beautiful. Why? They haven’t got any over there, have they? That buyer… his order went moldy in transit… Well, who knew they would get stuck so long in transit.”

For all the eco-friendliness of bamboo scaffolding it turns out that none of it is recycled. Some can be reused. But mostly the scaffolders pay for it to be taken away. And then it gets sent to the landfills.

We decide we need some Mao Juk. It’s about biodiversity, isn’t it. We carefully choose an offcut chunk of Mao Juk that can just about fit into a car and try to pay for it. “No no, just take it, present…”

In the name of biodiversity education, we ask, can we have some of that yellow striped stuff in front? “That’s the Governments! They planted it to stop people building out… can’t stand it!” So if someone sawed off a pole that’s fine is it? “Nothing to do with us…”

Bamboo scaffolding is everywhere in Hong Kong but what do you know about this amazing resource?

We are working with a third generation, Hong Kong, bamboo scaffolding firm, and Playright, the play and children’s advocacy NGO, to build a pop-up jungle gym and this workshop will explore the biodiversity values of bamboo through play-based activities. Climbing encouraged!

This workshop is part of Hong Kong Biodiversity Festival 2016, “Connecting with Nature” held between Oct – Dec 2016, with 130+ different biodiversity education and conservation programmes offered by over 40 participating organisations including government, universities, business sector and NGOs. Our workshop is supported by AFCD’s Biodiversity Subvention Fund.

What’s next? Keep watch for the first Hong Kong Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP), under the International Convention on Biological Diversity, to be launched by the Environment Bureau and AFCD by 2016 year end.

We are now having a chance to explore Tai Tam SSSI – a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) with diverse terrestrial and marine habitats, including HK island’s last mangrove. Please join our second citizen science event for 2016, Survey + Cleanup + BBQ at Tai Tam!

WWF’s Coastal Watch programme is HK’s first large-scale citizen science survey providing the EPD/AFCD data on marine debris and biodiversity after the 2012 plastic pellet crisis. To obtain accurate picture of the marine litter problem around Hong Kong,1000+ people surveyed 34 coastal areas throughout HK in 2014-15. This site action focuses on the protected mangrove area in Tai Tam led by Team Scientist Maegen with sustainability experts from Green Council HK. It’s the fourth and final survey of the two-year project and results will be released at the end of 2016.

1. Please wear suitable boots/sturdy closed-toe shoes and clothing as we will cross the stream and water level may reach 30 cm or higher.
2. Please bring spare clothes.
3. Please prepare water-proof bag to keep your own belongings like smartphone or camera.
4. Sunscreen, hats and drinking water are highly recommended.

Application: Please apply here (http://goo.gl/forms/EwDi0FfIW1UjlUlK2) to confirm your space by 11 June (Sun). First-come-first-served, friends welcome. Looking forward to seeing you in the event!Please free feel to contact us(bel@taitamtuk.org) if you have any questions.

After the BioBlitz, some friends told us you would like to spend time investigating the mangroves. Please join our first citizen science event for 2016, Survey + Cleanup + BBQ at Tai Tam!

WWF’s Coastal Watch programme is HK’s first large-scale citizen science survey providing the EPD/AFCD data on marine debris and biodiversity after the 2012 plastic pellet crisis. In Season 1, 2014-15 600+ people surveyed 27 coastal areas throughout HK. This site action focuses on the protected mangrove area in Tai Tam led by Team Scientist Maegen from HKU SWIMS with sustainability experts from Green Council HK.

Hong Kong gives us perception of “concrete jungle”, can you ever imagine that there are uncountable wildlife in green area of Hong Kong? Students from local and international schools followed experts in BioBlitz and found hundreds of species, including some rare species like mangrove horseshoe crabs. Experienced an invaluable class outside classroom.

21 coral species, 170 plant species, 32 bird species and 104 moth species are part of the result of Hong Kong’s first BioBlitz. 50 experts leading 300 secondary students recorded 578 species in 30 hours, covering marine, terrestrial and intertidal habitats, in Tai Tam site of special scientific interest (SSSI). Students can know more about little creatures and environment surrounding them. They can also know more about what experts have done on conservation and research.

Prof Gray Williams and his team from Swire Institute of Marine Science of HKU divided into three teams and conducted a comprehensive marine survey. First team arrived 2 hours earlier to grab sediments by ship in seabed of Tai Tam Harbour. They then worked together with scholars from HKBU and students to observe worms and other invertebrates under microscopes. Another team led students in conducting intertidal survey. They observed sea snails, crabs and mangrove. The third team dived to conduct fish and coral survey. “One minute on stage takes ten years” can describe the hard work behind the scene of identifying species in short period of time. Students were amazed by sea urchin and fiddler crab. Experts had first official record of coral in Tai Tam.

Moth expert Dr Roger Kendrick found excited moth species in this survey. He set the equipments at night fall on the first day. Then released and identified the moths at 11pm on the same day and 5am on the second day. He recorded 104 moth species and 2 of them are extremely rare yet native to only Hong Kong. In previous moth survey, Fustis sterlingi was only known from Tai Tam Bay and Stanley. It’s the 4th global record!

Apart from the contribution of experts, students used their smartphones in surveying. Students can send photos of wildlife with information of the location, group name and species name by WhatsApp to central database. Photos will then be uploaded by team to iSpot and can become a biological record. Looking at their photos of fungi, bird and mosquito, we feel like joining their survey journey together. One school group snapped a picture of mangrove horseshoe crab with Ocean Park Conservation Foundation which is the first time ever discovered in Hong Kong Island. The discovery of horseshoe crab juveniles indicated it’s a healthy mudflat.

BioBlitz co-founder Ms. Jenna Ho Marris participated in UK BioBlitz last year and brought this concept to Hong Kong. She said “In fact, we expect much richer biodiversity at other sites all around Hong Kong for example New Territories and especially Outlying Islands eg Lamma, Cheung Chau and of course Lantau. Hong Kong has over 70 SSSIs and Tai Tam is only one of them. What would we find if only we take time to observe and record!”

This unique event comes as part of the ‘Biodiversity Festival 2015’, an Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) lead project that encompasses many events, exhibitions and seminars, and is a major section of Hong Kong’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP). Project Coordinator of the HKBioBlitz Ms. Bel Li stated “One main aim of BioBlitz is to collect data that will promote further research and be used by the AFCD to further its BSAP commitments with possible wide-ranging policy amendments; from site of special scientific interest (SSSI) management, curricula development to general conservation and protection.”